Monday, January 10, 2011

Shopping healthy made simple thanks to Darya Pino (scientist and self-described foodie) at the Summer Tomato blog, who took the general rules for shopping healthy and produced a useful graphic.

My advice for shopping healthy includes steering your shopping cart around the outer edges of the grocery store where you find the produce, dairy and meats. Anytime you go down an aisle, you risk buying processed foods that may not be healthy for you. Make a habit of reading the ingredients list on the product's label to decide whether it fits the food category. And BTW, when you start reading the ingredients, you will be shocked at how much sugar is found in processed "food."

4 comments:

HI! I know you drink green tea. I was at the grocery store looking at all of them and I was overwhelmed by green teas with white tea in them, flavorings, should it be organic, is there a decaf version or does it matter.... The smallest items can completely overwhelm when you're trying to make a healthy change! What brand to you use? Do you have any tips for us that are trying to cut coffee out of our diets? I'm already using natural chicory "substitues" at home, but what can I order when I'm meeting friends at a coffee shop? Thanks!

There are many green tea blends to choose from. For example, I like Citron Green from Mighty Leaf that we buy in bulk. I don't buy decaf because the caffeine is considered beneficial in green tea and decaffeinating reduces the antioxidants. I tend to buy organic, but don't fret over drinking non-organic either.

I suggest you try various blends and brands to find what you like. As for white tea, it is the healthiest (highest in antioxidants) prime tea from the tender new shoots of the tea plant. White tea is usually lighter, smoother and sweeter than green tea, but you will pay more for it because of its scarcity.

When meeting friends at a coffee shop, I'll order whatever green tea they offer. Last time I met friends at a coffee shop, I had Pomegranate Green Tea by Republic of Tea.

Hope that helps. Jennie. Incidentally, green tea is an important part of my anti-cancer regime.

I was going to ask that same question! I've reduced my coffee to half-caff, but want to get rid of it all together...mostly because I want to skip the stuff that goes IN the coffee! Thanks for the suggestions, and explaining the difference in green/white.